My world is ok, but yours is not: television news, the optimism gap, and stress

Abstract

AbstractPublic opinion polls reliably find a disparity between people's views of the state of their own communities and of the nation in general. This discrepancy, frequently called the Optimism Gap, is often attributed to the fact that people have personal knowledge of things around them, but derive their larger world‐view from media sources such as television, which tend to over emphasize the negative, risky aspects of life. This study explores this premise, as well as the possibility that emotional factors such as depression, anxiety, and anger also play a role. Data from 171 participants were analysed. Overall, people rated problems in the nation in general as more severe than those in their own communities. Television exposure was predictive of ratings of problems nationwide, but not of problems in respondents' own communities, while attention paid to the television news was related to ratings of national and community problems. Depression, irrational beliefs, and anger arousal were all related to ratings of problems in the nation in general, while anger arousal and optimism were predictive of ratings of problems in respondents' own communities. These findings suggest that the links between television news exposure and mental health should be explored further. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.